Oh Se-hoon "Fully Promote Free Kindergarten Meals, Also Need to Realistically Adjust Daycare Meal and Snack Costs"

Kindergarten and Daycare Discrimination Must End... "Discussion Needed on Local Governments' Budget Burden for Meals and Snacks"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon emphasized the need to eliminate discrimination between kindergartens and daycare centers by fully implementing free meals in kindergartens and adjusting the meal and snack fees for daycare centers to realistic levels.

On the morning of the 4th, after the Cabinet meeting, Mayor Oh held an online briefing at Seoul City Hall and said, "We will fully implement free meals in kindergartens, and correspondingly, we must ensure that all children are not discriminated against by adjusting the meal and snack fees for daycare centers." He argued that free meals in kindergartens should be promoted quickly while reducing the differences between kindergartens and daycare centers.

Mayor Oh added that the costs included in the childcare fees for Seoul daycare centers, corresponding to the 1 meal and 2 snacks advocated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, are only about 1,900 KRW for ages 0-2 and about 2,500 KRW for ages 3-5. Together with autonomous districts, they are setting the average meal and snack fees at about 2,600 KRW for infants and about 3,000 KRW for young children through additional financial burdens. At the Cabinet meeting, the Ministers of Education and Health and Welfare responded positively, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance raised budget issues, suggesting, "Let's review and discuss in detail," Mayor Oh reported.

Mayor Oh plans to conduct a research project to promote free meals in kindergartens that reduce the burden on parents and improve the quality of meals. He explained that if Seoul City promotes free meals by covering the difference between the current meal unit price of 3,100 KRW and the portion of meal costs included in the government’s early childhood education fees, parents’ economic burden will be reduced and the quality of meals for young children will improve.

Mayor Oh said, "Seoul has not implemented free meals in kindergartens so far, so in reality, parents of private or public kindergartens bear part of the meal costs, which has helped to realize meal costs and improve the quality of meals for young children." He added, "Seoul City will discuss with the City Council to conduct a research project to accurately calculate the meal unit price and estimate the financial burden for support in order to promote free meals in kindergartens."

Furthermore, Mayor Oh emphasized the need to discuss the budget burden for meal and snack fees of local governments such as cities and provinces. He said, "I do not think it is the right solution to leave each local government to solve the problem on their own, given that the financial situations and price levels of each local government differ." He added, "The government should take the lead in setting standards and preparing comprehensive measures so that appropriate meals and snacks, considering the nutrition and diet by age of infants and young children, can be provided without discrimination whether in kindergartens or daycare centers."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.